The Razorwire Reviews Daily Bulletin #4

One frustrating element of being a physical media enthusiast and collector of boutique label blu-rays is the dreaded three letters: OOP. Often a blu-ray release will be limited to a certain number of copies and once they’re gone… eBay is your only hope. Though a friend of mine has grabbed a few choice out of print titles from places like Vinted or CeX too. I remember back in the early 2010s (what a weird sentence to type out…) the steelbook craze was reaching a peak. I think it was HMV who put out a steelbook release of The Wolverine (2013) and there was a picture floating around (that I probably have somewhere but can’t be bothered finding now) of someone lining up about 30 or 40 copies of them on a bed.

This may have possibly been part of a “group buy” where someone buys a bulk amount of copies, each for a specific person who might not be able to order or pick up a specific edition themselves. In this case, fair enough, each one is going to someone who wants it for the price it costs to buy. But scalpers run rampant too, and while I don’t think there’s a huge market for scalping in the blu-ray and 4K market these days, it definitely still happens.

I miss the days of a release coming out and being able to order it within a few months or go and buy it from HMV. The demand is so high for certain titles though, that you never know if that will even be possible, as I’ve found this week with the 88 Films release of Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991), a brand new 4K limited edition. As 88 announced themselves, it was sold out from their own stock on release and a few copies were still available from other retailers. When I went to order one, it was gone everywhere I could look. I was able to place an order with HMV as it’s currently listed as “Back in stock soon” but I don’t know if I’ll secure one at this point. I do have the standard blu-ray that 88 put out a few years ago, but there’s a couple of new extras and of course, a 4K transfer of the film.

In the world of boutique blu-ray collecting though, you really have to pick and choose what you pursue. For me, I prioritise certain areas and after becoming a huge fan of Hong Kong cinema over the past four years or so, I’m tending to grab anything I can. And right now, every company is putting out a plethora of pricey limited edition releases of HK films, especially with the elusive Golden Princess library finally escaping purgatory thanks to Shout! Studios. I try to learn my lessons with these things but sometimes I’ll pre-order something, purely to not miss out on the fancy LE version, and then it’ll stay in print for ages and eventually drop heavily in price down the line. Other times, I won’t even have a chance to pre-order and that thing will be gone.

I also used to like to wait for reviews of these releases, but that’s simply not possible unless I run the risk of missing out on getting the set at all. I was also a bit disheartened to see, when attempting to pre-order Riki-Oh, that the minimum spend at HMV for free shipping has now risen from £20 to £25. Which may not seem like a big deal, but a LOT of these LE releases are one pence below that threshold at £24.99, including Riki-Oh. The excellent HMV multi-buy deal of 2 for £15 has also been bumped up to 2 for £18, which again seems minimal, but to get some great blu-rays from labels like MUBI, Curzon, 101 or 88 Films for just £7.50 each was amazing. £9 a pop doesn’t quite feel as huge of a saving, especially when plenty of these titles hover around the £10 mark anyway.

Still, it’s a great thing that there’s at least still such a demand for physical media, so that’s something! I ended up adding in Marcel The Shell with Shoes On (2021) to my Riki-Oh order, to get the free shipping. Which arrived today unsealed and used, which I’ve had a few times from HMV and is quite disappointing. I’m sure it’ll play fine though, and I’ve wanted to see it for a few years. I just have to laugh at myself for spending more for the sake of “free” shipping, but at least it was on the cheaper end at only £5.99. It makes me think of a YouTuber who once made a giant order of films and noted that they simply “had to get the free shipping.” Us collectors have a true sickness!

Already into my first week of this website and the daily bulletin series, I’m feeling the pressure to keep updating the site, which I still have an excitement for… but I think the ambition of a daily series might have been a classic case of Luke over-enthusiasm. Which is fine, but perhaps a regular bulletin spaced out at random and when I feel like it would work best. It doesn’t help when I see the stats of the site tank day by day, but that can be its own folly and I think the reason I’ve kept my YouTube channel going for so long is that I simply do not monitor my stats. I don’t know how many subscribers I have, and I suspect many are dead accounts at this point. Maybe 12 thousand? And unless a video does under 100 views I don’t really give it a second notice. Like my YouTube channel, I should really treat this page like a passion project and not pay any mind to outside engagement. But still, maybe I’ll cut this bulletin into a different dosage sooner rather than later. We’ll see! I certainly want to put more energy into reviews and dedicated articles so, I shouldn’t give myself too much of a workload.

Luke